Mountain View High wins regional Academic Decathlon
It's on to the state meet March 11 and 12. Five MPS high schools qualified to compete for the Arizona championship title.
Mountain View is ready for regional interview competition.
Mountain View won the Region IV Academic Decathlon with 42,277.8 points.
Red Mountain placed second; Westwood, fourth; Skyline, sixth; Mesa, 12th; and Dobson, 14th. Brimhall Junior High hosted the Region IV meet Feb. 4 and 5.
The Great Depression is this year's theme at local, regional, state and national venues. Students vie for individual medals and team trophies in art, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, math, music, science, social science and speech.
"Winning first place as a team is better than 10 individual medals," said Mountain View's Kiko Guntermann." Teammate Jake Layton agrees, adding, "It's not about the individual, but the team, the city and the state. I want to represent Arizona at nationals."
Five Mesa schools qualify to continue in state competition
Red Mountain High will host the top 40 teams at the state meet March 11 and 12. The highest scoring team will represent Arizona at nationals April 27-30 in Charlotte, N.C.
Mountain View has won 15 state championships and placed in the top five at nationals 14 times, with a second-place finish in 2010.
A state sponsor comments on the importance of supporting academic excellence
“The Arizona Lottery strives to sponsor events that build a stronger, more vibrant Arizona,” said Jeff Hatch-Miller, executive director of the Arizona Lottery. “Arizona students must be the best and brightest in the world for us to be competitive on the world stage.
"Events like the Academic Decathlon promote high academic standards, quality of thinking and the value of teamwork. We are honored to sponsor this year’s competition and would like to congratulate all of the students who are participating.”